Anactoria

[parrot_suspect]

The scent of the throes of violent passion: entangled limbs, teeth on flesh, furiously grasping hands, the taste of blood and sweat. Golden amber, white honey, red currant, daemonorops, kush, and Arabian musk.

I'm not sure how I missed this when it first appeared, because it's chock-full of notes I love. I decided to take a chance and buy a bottle from a forumite, and I'm glad I did. This is a lovely, warm, complex, amber-y musk. When first applied, it smells almost a bit like men's cologne because of the amber and musk, but it quickly dries down to something more intriguing. The spices and dragon's blood resin come out in the mid-stage and add a sweetness to the blend. In the end it's sort of a golden musk drydown...then it vanishes. My skin eats this oil a bit quicker than I'd prefer, but I still like it. Anactoria reminds me a lot of Bien Loin D'Ici, Coxcomb and other warm, round, smooth, "golden" musky blends. If you like either of those, there's a good chance you'll like Anactoria.

[levelek]

Wet, the predominant note is amber. On drydown, it becomes deliciously creamy - must be the honey and the musk. Then it goes through a baby powder phase (sadly, it goes completely baby powder on my left wrist). All along there is some grassy kush in the background, blown in the hot wind, and drawing ever closer. Overall, a touch too sweet for my taste, but it's still one of my favourites that I've tried. Very sensual. Could be a great skin scent.

[Usagi]

I got his as a decant off the forum.

 

Imp: woodsy neroli, and something floral

wet: spicy(as in spices, not heat) herbal, slightly sweet(smells good)

dry:tangy perfume with clean undertones, slight powderiness from the honey and amber. Nice.

 

I find Anactoria has a long lasting time, and a medium throw. The scent is very complex, like high-end perfume, but smells more natural. After about an hour, the amber has taken over, and--unfortunately-- amber likes to mimic baby powder on my skin.

[ouch!]

I don't know what to make of this scent, and I really don't know where to start in describing it.

 

It smells...orangey, and creamy and floral and really like something else I've smelled before but can't put my finger on it. It's definately pretty though, It reminds me of Alice a little bit...or one of the Mad Tea Party oils. It's a similar sort of vibe. Fruity, creamy...floral..yum!!

 

ETA. Oh my...I should have given this a bit more of a chance because the musk in this is kinda cool. It's like. O or... Chimera. It's come right forward in the dry stange and this oil is kicking ass in the sexy department.

Edited February 18, 2010 by ouch!

[Venneh]

In the tester, I'm getting a golden scent, really similar to L'Estate, but with a bitterer edge. On my skin, it's a mix between honey and the frankincense and musk. Not quite sure what to think of this yet, we'll see what it does. Ends up being a honeymuskish incense blend, not my usual, but will keep the imp, as it got me a compliment from my advising prof.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Venneh

[Ravenclaw79]

In the bottle, this is sweet and slightly fruity, with the barest hint of caramel.

 

On my skin, though, it's horrid, a really harsh floral with a sinister feel. This is the sort of scent that some other people here would love, but I can't, at least not now. Maybe aging will improve it.

[angelicruin]

On my skin, this is bitter floral. I tend to enjoy sweeter blends, and this is just not working out for me. Amber and musk notes seem to be the strongest on me and I am also getting a blood note, or something similar, which I think might be the bitterness I am smelling on my skin. Blood notes just don't work on me like they used to when I first discovered BPAL.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Amber, daemonrops, and honey dominent. It’s delicate and quite lovely. I’m suspecting it will be way too feminine for my body chemistry. Wet: Still a light honeyed floral with amber. The musks strengthens on the skin, though it stays more sweet, than sexual. It’s a lovely and unusual floral, quietly stunning and totally wrong on me, alas. Dry: OMG! This is absolutely lovely, very light, innocent, yet with a hint of sensuality.

[Lorelai1945]

2010 version

 

In the bottle I get a strong whiff of musk- it's almost boozy. Applied, I get a very sweet, incensy musk. I can't really pick out any individual notes- it's just super sweet and heavily floral musk. I'm not sure I like this-it's cloying and kind of gives me a headache. There's also something in there that is slightly sour behind all the syrupy sweetness. I think I'll be swapping this one.

[DeltaCat]

2010 Type

 

Musky! Not a dark musk, but a sweeter musk. I would assume the sweetness comes from the floral. I also can distinguish the blood note in this type. It gives Anactoria a slight bite. An iron smell as you pull away from sniffing your wrist.

[iiinterstate]

This is good stuff.

I get the same feeling from this as I do from Snake Charmer. Sexy, heavy musk with sweeter top notes. I get the honey most of all, and its HOT.

 

I'm sort of at a loss with this description, because everything blends so well. I need a backup because I'll bet anything that aged Anactoria is simply orgasmic.

[fairnymph]

2008 Version:

 

Golden oil. Sweet, musky, perfumey - from both the amber and the dragon's blood, and rather green-herbal - a sort of dry grassy note from the hemp. I'm not getting any red currant and the honey is light. Loads of amber.

 

Much more powdery; the amber is even stronger! More floral, in a way that makes my face itch - dragon's blood for sure. The hemp is also much stronger, and hemp is a unique sort of scent, but there is a lot of hemp here. Honey still sadly faint, but then white honey is very light IME. A tiny bit of tart-juicy red currant, but it's being smothered, by the amber and hemp in particular, but the DB and musk are definitely super strong also.

 

Gettiing sweeter, and going plastic. This amber is totally like sickly sweet baby powdery and diapers. This is reminding me a lot of O, which explains its popularity (and my dislike). The honey has amped, and the hemp has softened. The red currant has turned sour in a bad way, like sour milk. The musk is rich and languid - the Arabian musk - but I get some lighter, sort of fresh (but totally not working here and so clashing as a result) skin musk, too. At least it has faded a bit overall.

 

Dry herbal hemp, sour red currant, sickly sweet, heavy, plasticky amber powder and a whisper of soapy dragon's blood air freshener make this revolting to me, with only the sexy musk and hint of light honey as redeeming features - but not anywhwere near redeeming enough. Low throw after initial rapid fading, but after that it sticks to my skin like evil glue.

 

[reynardine]

Wet, this goes on a heavy musk. The drydown has amber, honey and currant, which isn’t that bad. This musk isn’t working for me, though, and something in this is going plastic on me. Wash off.

[musichappens]

2010

 

When first applied, I get a blend of currants and musk that is simply beautiful. However, the currants seem to disappear rather quickly leaving the musk to run rapid. After letting it sit for a bit, a faint sweetness emerges to calm the musk down. It's definitely a scent that I can see myself wearing on days where I just want to feel pretty.

Edited February 21, 2010 by musichappens

[Saya]

This blend is primarily amber, musk and honey to my nose. It blends together in a magnificent way creating a very light, sexy, feminine blend. Stays close to the skin without a ton of throw. I think I'll need to test this again to see if it's bottle worthy.

[MamaMoth]

2010 decant

 

I can only describe this as "perfumey." Smells like the endless floral/perfumey-musk blends that you find on a perfume counter, and it's not doing anything for me.

[PeshaRocha]

Too floral for me.

[gingiemay]

In the bottle this is quite light, with a hint of floral and soft musk. Very pleasant. When first applied to my skin there is an icky soap note (I think it's the golden amber) that burns off after about 30-45 minutes, thankfully, leaving behind a gorgeous white honey skin musk type note. It's soft and the throw is not very great, but like most of the Lupercalias it is perfect sufficient as a close to the skin scent. I know the notes list says Arabian musk, but it must be close to skin musk as that is what I am getting. It almost has a vanilla esque edge similar to Morocco.

[greenranger]

On me this isn't very strong. It's almost a skin scent, faintly sweet with the honey, slightly musky, with just a suggestion of incense. Although it seems faint, I do like the scent. It's warm and sweet and (on me at least) subtle.

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2010 version.

 

The notes that stay predominant throughout, from opening the bottle through the dry-down are the amber (not too powdery), the honey, the currant, and the musk. I'm going to assume that the kush is maize, and is serving as a base note. I always forget that dragon's blood is produced by daemonorops; it's not a favorite note of mine, but I'm not picking it up much in this scent, thank goodness. The oil is a sweet and sunny scent, and will be good to evoke the sun on those rainy spring days.

[heleng]

To me this is sweet honeyed dragon's blood. Lovely but I don't need a bottle.

[saralaughs]

Ok, I was hoping (against hope) that the daemonorops wouldn't be too prominent as it (dragon's blood is never a good thing on me) goes wonky on my skin. It's like a cherry/resin cough drop. Weird.

 

Anyway, my hope was in vein. Anactoria starts off nice. The amber comes out as very golden and the honey sweetens it up just a bit but isn't syrupy. The currant comes in a little tart but smooths out quickly. It's when the cherry cough drop that smells like it's been sucked on, spit out, and rolled in resin comes into play that ruins it for me. It amps to high heaven and just takes over.

 

A couple hours later, that cough drop resin thing is gone and it smells lovely. I just don't know if I can get through that icky phase first.

[fiddledragon]

2010 Version

 

This is mostly daemonorops and musk, with a nice light amber base. It's surprisingly faint on me given the notes, but I actually like that. Often dragon's blood and the darker musks (which this definitely is) go all hot and heavy on me, and while they're not bad, per se, they're just not really the sort of scent atmosphere I'm looking for. This is a softer, close-to-the-skin version...sort of like Dragon's Musk through about four layers of quilt batting. It should age beautifully :-)

[lahdeedah]

2010 Version

 

I wasn't sure what to expect with Anactoria, not really having a lot of experience (that I'm aware of) with many of the notes. But the description sounded cool, so I sprang for a decant.

 

First off: this is by far the most "commercial perfume" smelling BPAL I've tried thus far. Granted, I've only tried maybe 30 or 40, but none have had quite this flavor. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just a surprise. Still, there's something I find intriguing and charming about Anactoria, and you'll have to bear with me for a sec. I'm reading this book on perfume that talks about how all the notes should blend together so that nothing really sticks out-- it's an alchemical transformation of many into one. And on my skin, that is definitely what I get with Anactoria. It's a sweet, musky floral, but nothing is dominant to my nose. It's really well blended and pretty. Which brings me to the second thing of note: it's awfully pretty and innocent smelling for something described in such a hot sexy way. I'm not getting sweaty limbs or flesh of any kind really.

 

My final analysis: at the end of the day, a very pretty, wearable scent, if you like light, sweet, musky florals, but steer clear if commercial perfumes make you go "ick." Does it make me swoon, or scream "buy a bottle right now!", no. I might. I might not. Ugh, this is one of those that brings out my most Libran indecisiveness. Definitely holding onto my decant, though.

 

 

 

[Xanon]

If Smut and Light of Men's Lives had children this would be it on my skin. No grape/purple that I get from this year's Smut... but I do get the musk that is not a part of Light of Men's Lives. I'll have to try this again, I really loved it on but I don't really need an LE that smells so much like a GC.